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Karim Bouhajeb's insight: DressX poursuit sa course. L’e-shop de mode exclusivement virtuelle annonce deux nouveaux projets, l’un dédié aux NFT, l’autre à une initiative physique, via une installation éphémère au Printemps. Lancée en 2020 par les deux Ukrainiennes Daria Shapovalova et Natalia Modenova, l’entreprise basée à Los Angeles vient de connaître une période compliquée avec la guerre en Ukraine, où elle a une partie de son équipe, qu’elle a finalement réussi à mettre à l’abri. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Online marketplace and sneakerhead hotspot StockX has released an immersive shopping app for Apple’s newly launched spatial computer headset, the Vision Pro. The experience allows consumers to browse StockX’s full product catalog using hand and eye movements, engage with real-time interactive market data, and shop user-uploaded outfits. With streetwear buffs and Web3 exponents sharing common ground, StockX’s move into spatial computing makes sense for the demographic. Collectors are continually seeking newness and innovation across the streetwear and sneaker scene; hosting an experience through a product as hyped as the Vision Pro feeds into the novelty factor of sneaker collecting and exclusivity. The opportunity for brands to create immersive apps for Vision Pro users is growing. In the first 10 days of its official launch, Apple sold over 200,000 units of the headset worldwide, despite its $3,500 price tag and divisively cumbersome appearance. As traditional e-commerce models find themselves becoming obsolete, the Vision Pro marks a new era for shopping. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Since becoming the first Italian luxury fashion group to list on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2021, Zegna’s global “One Brand” repositioning as a leisurewear brand at the top end of the market is being expanded to China. Timed to coincide with the release of the Triple Stitch Secondskin Luxury Leisurewear Shoes last month, Zegna has curated a one-to-one immersive client experience in the VIP room of its Beijing flagship store. An exclusive cohort of VIP customers will be invited over two weeks to experience the epitome of Zegna service through personal interactions and elevated levels of customization. With personalization, a defining trend for luxury servicing in 2024 and beyond, Zegna is looking to integrate the brand into the lifestyles of its target consumers with exclusive localized experiences that money can’t buy. As the quiet luxury boom continues to sweep China, Zegna is in prime position to keep its lead in the luxury menswear sector as reflected in the Zegna Group's latest earnings. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: The social-media giant is making it easier for users to find inspirational images of people with similar hair, skin and body types as them, helping it attract Gen-Z consumers who are using shopping features on the platform at a higher rate than any other group. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: From luxury brands Gucci, Dior, and Louis Vuitton landing on Douyin, fast fashion retailer Zara introducing an innovative livestreaming format on the short video app, to Lululemon opening its official flagship store on the platform last week, TikTok’s counterpart in China is increasingly expanding its share of voice in the fashion industry. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: What draws a brand to Roblox over Fortnite? How can brands harness Zepeto’s rapid growth in the West? As blockchain-based metaverse destinations took a back seat last year, luxury’s biggest players charged ahead with establishing a presence in more lucrative domains, contributing to an uptick in growth across user-generated content (UGC) gaming hubs like Roblox and retail spots such as Emperia – in Q3 of 2023 alone, Geeiq recorded a 67% rise of new experiences in virtual platforms. As competition and consumer demand in these virtual environments swell, brand strategies and approaches are evolving. Comprising speakers from metaverse and gaming leaders including Atlas Creative, Dubit, and Sawhorse Productions, the webinar offered insights on the opportunities for brands in virtual worlds, which platform data brands are investing in, plus the industries set to dominate virtual worlds this year. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Global duty-free shopping sales recovered strongly in December, growing 130 percent month on month. The Asia-Pacific region, where sales climbed +151%, led this expansion. Residents from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Northeast Asia were major contributors to the recovery of sales across Asia-Pacific. Sales soared +231% in Japan, ranking it first among destination markets, followed by South Korea at +106%. Global in-store like-for-like sales attributable to Mainland Chinese shoppers climbed +82%. Many Chinese netizens are not used to communicating by email, or using the open web, and most brands in China operate a WeChat Mini Program. A separate travel retail program would potentially provide valuable data on travelers, increase consumer convenience, facilitate communication and boost brands’ ability to differentiate. LVMH-owned skincare label Fresh recently launched its travel retail WeChat Mini Program, dubbed “The Fresh Indulgent Voyage”. The app, enables shoppers to explore the Fesh travel retail world, including the brand story, product offerings, personalized services, and exclusive gifts. Plus, it offers an AI-powered skin analysis feature, a “Mask Finder” function, a space for KOL recommendations similar to Xiaohongshu’s explore page, and a livestreaming component. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Unlike the majority of Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012), this group of consumers was born in an era of iPhones (first released 2007) and iPads (2010), and has always had the likes of photo-sharing apps and advanced gaming tools at their fingertips. This familiarity with technology is influencing their perspective on the internet and technology as a whole. The main difference [between Gen Zers and Gen Alphas] is the approach to technology. While Alphas adopt an explorative, creative, innovative and enthusiastic approach to digital media consumption, Gen Z prioritizes security and privacy over newness and discovery. However, each generation has its own anxieties surrounding tech. Gen Zers have experienced the growth of social media into a universal phenomenon. Whereas, for their successors, internet domination is an ingrained part of life, for every age group, not only young demographics. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Despite the growing acceptance of digital tools for designing and developing products, the incorporation of 3D technology into the fashion industry is progressing at a slower pace compared to sectors like automotive and product design. This slow adoption can be attributed to various factors inherent in the complexities of the fashion industry and its supply chain. However, there is a compelling argument suggesting that the conventional approach to fashion education, which centers on physical garment making, is failing to adequately address the knowledge gap related to screen-based 3D design and development. Digital fashion is transforming fashion, which, in turn, calls into question the body of skills and knowledge traditional fashion education considers appropriate for fashion designers. Many creatives are now embracing digital design to explore novel approaches to express their creative visions, and the fashion industry is recognizing the need to keep pace with digital natives. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: This past year has seen Web3 hype plateau and skepticism across the crypto market soar. So much so, in fact, 95% of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are now deemed worthless. With rug pulls, scandals, and market crashes aplenty, successful NFT campaigns in 2023 have been few and far between. Nevertheless, luxury brands are still betting big on digital assets as a core component in their community-building strategies. The challenge is leveraging their value enough to make them worth the investment. Where legacy labels like Louis Vuitton and Gucci have seemingly cracked the formula and triumphed, others have flopped as a result of poor communication, oversupply outweighing demand, zero long-term potential, or too lofty ambitions too soon. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Signs of trouble have been on the horizon for some time at Farfetch, but never so apparent until recent weeks. The e-tailer had previously entertained notions of a now-stalled deal to purchase a 47.5% stake in competitor Yoox Net-A-Porter. “Loss-making Farfetch looks ill-equipped to complete the transaction with Richemont. Shares in the loss-making company are down more than 70%,” analysts said in late November. In Q2 2023, Farfetch fell short of projected revenue, as retailers reduced orders for the upcoming fall and winter seasons owing to excess inventories — with analysts deeming its second-quarter earnings report as “very disappointing,” according to Reuters. With the post-Covid reopening of China and the rest of the world over the last year and a half,forecasts were initially rosy, and expectations high for many retailers including Farfetch. But in recent months, that optimism has dwindled.With American consumers spending less on luxury over the past year, many brands have cast their sights on China, with high hopes that Chinese consumers would offset some of the decline in North America and Europe.However, this has not proven to be the case for e-tailers such as Farfetch, as China continues to navigate what experts call a crisis of consumer confidence. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Another China-born online fast-fashion retailer has received a big check. Urbanic, a London-based fast-fashion brand established in 2019 by Xue Chi and Deng Qiulin, two Chinese entrepreneurs who previously worked at Google and Alibaba, successfully secured a $150 million Series C investment on November 16. In recent years, a wave of tech-based fast-fashion startups has emerged in China, all vying to replicate Shein’s stratospheric growth abroad.Relying on China’s comprehensive supply chain infrastructure and machine learning-based models to predict trends, these fast-fashion retailers are able to churn out thousands of new products daily, outpacing competitors like Zara and H&M. As a result, they have swiftly and successfully expanded into various international markets. Shein’s valuation has surpassed that of both Zara and H&M combined, even after it fell from $100 billion to $66 billion this year. The Chinese e-tailer is on track to achieve the fifth-largest consumer IPO in history after Porsche, LG, Rivian, and General Motors. This unprecedented success often overshadows China’s mid-tier contenders, who are working hard to compete on the same playing field. Among these players are Halara, which began with athleisure; Bloomchic, which sells plus-size clothes; and Cider, which focuses on plus-size apparel and swimwear. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: On average, a typical brand billboard has around six seconds to capture a consumer’s attention. Evolving lifestyles are also impacting how we digest advertisem*nts, making traditional modes of marketing less effective. With catching eyeballs now harder than ever before, brands need something more effective than a 2D campaign. Companies like BCN visuals think they have the answer. The company is deploying hyper-realistic storytelling to capture attention spans. In August, the Barcelona-based studio teamed up with luxury automotive manufacturer Cadillac to launch a 3D digital campaign via the most recognizable billboard in the world – the one in Times Square. After years of teetering towards obsolescence, traditional street advertising is staging a comeback. Its golden ticket? Digitized three-dimensional billboards. No comment yet. Sign up to comment |
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Setting the benchmark for online visibility, Paris Fashion Week drove exposure across China’s social media for participating brands, with livestreaming, official hashtags, and celebrity attendance boosting engagement. Overall, Chanel emerged as the leading brand among the top seven at PFW, which finished earlier this month. It generated a total of 1.058 billion tag views across social platforms Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin. This number combines both seasonal and always-on tag views. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: The Saudi government is striving to raise the ratio of non-cash transactions to 70% by 2025, up from 62% in 2023, in order to support economic growth and diversification. E-commerce sales are set to reach nearly $10 billion in 2025, up from $6.25 billion in 2022, according to Euromonitor. A testament to the kingdom’s booming online ecosystem, 74% of online shoppers are expected to shift from global to local e-commerce platforms. One of the region’s favorite luxury retail platforms is Dubai-based Ounass, which offers carefully curated edits of exclusive capsule collections from local and international designers, along with express delivery to those in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. And that’s exactly what global luxury retailers have done to compete in the market. In 2017, Farfetch teamed up with Chalhoub Group, a leading partner for luxury brands across the Middle East, to open its first office in the region, roll out an Arabic-language website, and offer private client services in the region. It later partnered with Saudi Arabian retailer Rubaiyat to enhance its targeted offering for local shoppers. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Chinese cosmetics brand Kans (韩束), known for its ‘Red BB cream,’ topped Douyin’s beauty brand list for 2023, with sales exceeding the 3 billion RMB ($417 million) mark. The label is continuing to blossom on the short video platform this year, once again topping Douyin’s January beauty list with outstanding results. According to data intelligence agency ChanmamaKans’ total GMV (gross merchandise value) reached $107 million (773 million RMB) last month, quadruple L’Oréal’s Douyin GMV for the same period. The result is not only Kans’ highest single month GMV on Douyin, but also the platform’s highest record for a beauty brand GMV in a single month. In January, the brand’s online retail channels performed very well: Kans’ GMV growth on Douyin hit 756% YoY, on Tmall it grew 570% YoY, on JD.com it was up 398%, on Vipshop it climbed 135%, and on Pinduoduo it rose 218%. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: With 63% of its population below the age of 30, Saudi Arabia is shaping up to be one of the world’s most critical Gen Z and Gen Alpha markets. This is a digitally-driven generation, with 46% of affluent 18 to 34-year-old Saudis predominantly purchasing luxury goods online. It is also a “generation of socialization," where shopping is a major pastime. While they adopt global trends and largely prefer European luxury brands, 95% of this cohort thinks it is important for brands to support and engage with Saudi-first enterprises and celebrate local design. This could look like offering localized collections or special seasonal offerings during Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. Young Saudis want to respect their culture and live their culture, but they want to be global, as they want to assimilate with the rest of the world. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Reaffirming the maison’s bullish investment in emerging technologies, Louis Vuitton’s latest LV Diamonds fine jewelry collection has tapped the Aura Blockchain Consortium for its new digital certificates. These certificates trace the journey of each central stone from the mine to the finger, enabling owners of the brand’s latest diamond collection to access information such as the location of extraction and where each stone was sorted, polished, and set. Following the blockchain’s meteoric rise and subsequent fall from grace, organizations like the Aura Blockchain Consortium are desperate to win back consumer trust. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Déjà adeptes des innovations digitales avec le Métaverse et les NFT, c’est sans surprise que les maisons de luxe se tournent avec enthousiasme vers l’IA générative. Attrait de la nouveauté, esprit créatif, volonté de rester attractives auprès des jeunes consommateurs hyper connectés… Les raisons ne manquent pas pour elles de s’intéresser aux nouveaux outils. Mais pour en faire quoi ? Il s’avère que l’IA générative pourrait bien être un compagnon très utile pour les marques de prestige. Elles y voient en effet l’opportunité de revenir à l’essence de leur métier : l’art de la création et de la relation client sur-mesure. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Platforms like Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft have long empowered players to modify and personalize their experiences, turning passive users into active creators. The interactive model, where players shape the game's environment and narrative, mirrors a similar emerging dynamic in fashion. It also defines the types of experiences that younger generations will come to expect. The last decade's influencer marketing boom laid the groundwork for this shift. Influencers, harnessing platforms like Instagram and TikTok, have blurred the lines between consumer and creator, offering their own personal feedback and insights that directly influence brand strategies. Their role is a testament to the power of user engagement — they are not just marketing conduits but co-creators, shaping both product and presentation. This democratization of creation, vivid in gaming and influencer culture, is now finding its stride in fashion, signaling a future where consumers are integral to the creative process and echoing a broader societal shift towards participatory experiences. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: LVMH is reportedly in discussions with TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., to address concerns about the sale of fake luxury products on the world’s top short video-sharing platform. The app is popular across all age demographics in selling and recommending “dupes,” a hashtag referring to cheaper, duplicate products that currently has 6,6 billion views. The trend is massively contributing to the issue of counterfeits, as recognized by the luxury conglomerate LVMH. From beauty products by Benefit to Louis Vuitton bags, many items sold by vendors on TikTok are actually counterfeits. This not only tarnishes the reputations of these luxury brands but also adversely impacts the sales of their official products. The French conglomerate has a similar deal in place with Alibaba. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: This year has been pivotal for e-commerce China, which embraced new technologies and marketing strategies, significantly altering the way consumers interact with luxury brands. From the rise of virtual livestream anchors to the increasing influence of platforms like Xiaohongshu, Shein and Temu, five most significant trends have redefined e-commerce in China this year. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Artificial intelligence (AI) may have been the buzzword of 2023, but the burgeoning tech is here to stay. This year, brands from all corners of the fashion ecosystem employed machine learning systems to fortify their roadmaps, from utilizing AI to streamline their supply chains to exercising its potential as creative design assistant, overtaking metaverse and NFTs. As an early adopter of machine learning, Valentino jumped onto fashion’s snowballing AI trend back in January with its ‘Essential’ campaign. The images portrayed a hybrid world between human and machine, with each image created by running prompts through a generative text-to-image system, executed by AI specialist Vittorio Maria del Masso. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: When it comes to live commerce in China, Zara is setting the bar. With 12 cameras, 50 professionals, and a 9,000-square-meter set, the brand’s latest broadcast could easily be mistaken for a movie or music video backdrop at first glance. On November 17, the Spanish fashion brand debuted a new livestream concept on Douyin, hosted by supermodel You Tianyi. Running for five hours, the livestream included catwalks, walkthroughs of the fitting room and makeup area, and “behind-the-scenes” views of the camera equipment and staff. Rather than the typical, fast-paced Chinese livestream, Zara’s was far more calm and choreographed. The host took her time modeling products, showcasing the brand as stylish and sophisticated. Although Zara did not release figures for the November 17 broadcast, e-commerce data from analysis platform Douchacha shows that the total number of viewers surpassed 1.2 million, a jump from the average 200,000 viewers. How is the Inditex label benefiting from its new livestreaming format, and what can luxury brands learn? No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: Italian luxury brand Tod’s has joined the Aura Blockchain Consortium. The brand will introduce the organization’s Digital Product Passport technology into its own collections, starting with its Custom Di Bag. The digital passport, which is connected using an NFC chip woven into the bag, allows owners to access ownership certificates, product life cycle information, and sustainability certifications. Owners will also be able to claim a blockchain-enabled digital twin of their bag as proof of ownership. The Aura Blockchain Consortium’s ever-growing roster of members points to luxury’s evolving attitude towards emerging tech and the blockchain. As full transparency becomes a non-negotiable for high-end retailers, digital passports facilitate seamless consumer accessibility, storytelling, and traceability — a must-have for those who want to foster rich relationships with their collectors. No comment yet. Sign up to comment
Karim Bouhajeb's insight: It’s been a rocky road for the Web3 lexicon this year, with terms like “metaverse” and “NFT” losing their luster. In response, luxury labels are opting for language that’s a little less loaded — cue digital passports. Essentially an NFT, the past 11 months have seen brands including Loro Piana and Panerai incorporate blockchain-based digital passports into their products to combat counterfeits and bolster consumer offerings. French fashion house Mugler is the latest to follow suit. In other news, emerging tech embracer Balmain has introduced a new 3D fit function on its site to help lower customer returns and reduce its carbon footprint, while Boss’ fragrance division has entered Gen Z goldmine Fortnite. No comment yet. Sign up to comment |
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